Renaissance or Early Modern Material Culture

This is a basic guide for researching material culture of the
Renaissance period in British and Western European history. Researchers
needing in-depth material about art or music of this period will want
to consult our art librarian, Terrie Wilson, or our music librarian, Mary Black Junttonen.

The Renaissance was a cultural movement between the 14th and 17th
centuries that began in Italy in the late Middle Ages and spread
throughout Europe. It encompassed the revival of learning based on
classical sources, the rise of courtly and papal patronage, the
development of perspective in painting, and advancements in science.
The Renaissance had wide-ranging consequences in all pursuits, but is
perhaps best known for its artistic aspects (Wikipedia). In terms of
college teaching this time period is often referred to as “Early
Modern;” chronologically, it falls between the medieval period and the
industrial revolution.

Material culture is about the material world, daily life, work, food
and drink, music, theater, dance and other entertainments and leisure
pursuits, celebration of holidays, clothing, homes, implements, books
and reading, and weapons, to name some of its concerns. “Everyday life
consists of the little things one hardly notices in time and space…
Through the details a society stands revealed. The ways people eat,
dress, or lodge at the different levels of that society are never a
matter of indifference.” (Braudel, Structures of Everyday Life. Harper and Row, 1979, 29.)

This guide is meant for history and literature students researching
material objects in early modern culture in order to learn about
everyday life, either for its own sake, or to help interpret history,
literature, or drama.

The guide is also for those who want to serve a Renaissance period
meal, dress-up in a Renaissance costume for Halloween, put on a
Renaissance music and/or dance concert, celebrate Christmas; learn
about children’s toys in this period…; in general this guide points the
ways to find out how “people did life” in this period.